Monday, June 18, 2012

Race Recap at the Slinger Speedway 6-17-12 : By Dan Margetta

Ryan DeStefano scored the win in the 35-lap late model feature for
the second week in a row, holding off Dan Church for the victory.

Justin Poenitsch and Dave McCardle led the field to the green and
McCardle raced into the early lead from the outside as Poenitsch fell in
line for second just ahead of Alex Prunty and DeStefano. Prunty worked
his way around Poenitsch for second as McCardle continued to lead as Dan
Church, Braison Bennett, and Pat McIntee also passed Poenitsch who
began to fall back on the outside along with DeStefano who was also
caught on the high side. Meanwhile back up front, Prunty caught McCardle
and after a few checks to the inside, took to the outside lane in a bid
for the top spot. McCardle and Prunty raced several laps door to door
for the top spot.

The damage after the lap 13 spin

McCardle
wiggled slightly off turn two on lap 13 which gave Prunty a small run
on the outside entering turn three, however as Prunty tried to pull back
down to the inside, the nose of McCardle’s car was barely there and the
slight contact sent Prunty’s car spinning around where it was struck
cosmetically by DeStefano as he tried to skid to a stop. Both Prunty and
DeStefano were able to continue as McCardle and Prunty were placed at
the rear of the field for their involvement in the caution, leaving Dan
Church and Braison Bennett to lead the field back to green with
DeStefano and McIntee directly behind them. Bennett and Church batted
alongside each other for the lead over the next three circuits with
Bennett having a slight advantage over Church from the outside. The
handle on Bennett’s outside run went away on lap 16 as the back of his
car swung around in turn four, drawing a caution flag and leaving Church
as the leader over DeStefano, Poenitsch and McIntee. Church and
DeStefano fought for the lead as racing resumed with Church on the
inside and DeStefano holding strong on the outside.

On lap 19, Church
had difficulty holding his car on the inside and as it walked up the
track in turn four, DeStefano took control of the lead as Poenitsch
raced by Church and into second. DeStefano maintained the lead in the
second half of the race through two more caution periods for minor
incidents and in the closing laps, the handling went away on Poenitsch’s
car and he exited the track as Prunty and McCardle recovered from their
earlier spin to charge back into the top five. DeStefano drove to the
win over Church while Prunty worked his way back into third place just
ahead of McCardle in fourth. Pat McIntee was fifth.

Justin
Poenitsch won the late model fast dash and Braison Bennett was
victorious in the heat race. Alex Prunty was the fastest qualifier at
12.440 seconds.